12 days out- Check my Timeline, please?

dyerwise

Ok, 12 days out from our wedding. FREAKING OUT.

Our ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location. Cocktail hour is just steps away from ceremony area, and Reception area is just steps away from cocktail hour. No travel, no gap, yay!

This time line is what I have worked up taking from the suggested timelines from our Photographer, Venue coordinator, and DJ. FI and I have not fully decided on if we want to do our first dance right after the DJ announces us into the reception. I've seen this at weddings and think it always looks really smooth and helps move things along. I only worry that it might be weird because FI and I are doing the welcome toast. So would we enter the reception, have first dance, then give welcome toast? or would we hold off on the welcome toast until everyone has gone through the buffet line?

11:00a // Bridesmaids hair and makeup

12:30p // Bride hair

1:30p // Bride Makeup

3:00p // Shuttle to Venue

3:30p // Couple First Look & Portraits

4:00p // Wedding Party Portraits

4:00p // Venue access begins, Day of Coordinator arrives, Florist arrives for ceremony/reception set up

5:15p // Family portraits

5:30p // Ceremony detail & arrivals candid pictures

5:30p // Guests begin to arrive

6:00p // Ceremony begins 

6:30p // Ceremony ends

6:30p// Additional family photos (if needed)

6:30p // cocktail hour begins

7:15-30p // Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:40p // Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance?

7:45p // Buffet (table by table)

8:30p // Passed champagne for Toasts, Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

9:00p // First Dance(?)

9:05p // Parent Dances(should only be 5 minutes for both dances)

9:15p // Cake Cutting

9:20p // Dance floor opens
11p//Last Dance

MeetTheLaras

Yay for October 1st weddings! I'm also 12 days away. 

I plan on having the first dance and Parent dances immediately after the toasts. I think it's whatever you feel most comfortable with. I do love the idea of the dance starting immediately after the introduction though. But we decided on doing the first dance after dinner. 

I'd be interested to see what other suggest though. Because I still haven't printed my programs. I may switch some things around too! 

PrettyGirlLost

dyerwise said:

Ok, 12 days out from our wedding. FREAKING OUT.

Our ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location. Cocktail hour is just steps away from ceremony area, and Reception area is just steps away from cocktail hour. No travel, no gap, yay!

This time line is what I have worked up taking from the suggested timelines from our Photographer, Venue coordinator, and DJ. FI and I have not fully decided on if we want to do our first dance right after the DJ announces us into the reception. I've seen this at weddings and think it always looks really smooth and helps move things along. I only worry that it might be weird because FI and I are doing the welcome toast. So would we enter the reception, have first dance, then give welcome toast? or would we hold off on the welcome toast until everyone has gone through the buffet line?

11:00a // Bridesmaids hair and makeup

12:30p // Bride hair

1:30p // Bride Makeup

3:00p // Shuttle to Venue

3:30p // Couple First Look & Portraits

4:00p // Wedding Party Portraits

4:00p // Venue access begins, Day of Coordinator arrives, Florist arrives for ceremony/reception set up

5:15p // Family portraits

5:30p // Ceremony detail & arrivals candid pictures

5:30p // Guests begin to arrive

6:00p // Ceremony begins 

6:30p // Ceremony ends

6:30p// Additional family photos (if needed)

6:30p // cocktail hour begins

7:15-30p // Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:40p // Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance?

7:45p // Buffet (table by table)

8:30p // Passed champagne for Toasts, Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

9:00p // First Dance(?)

9:05p // Parent Dances(should only be 5 minutes for both dances)

9:15p // Cake Cutting

9:20p // Dance floor opens
11p//Last Dance

Are you providing lunch for your WP members while they are having their hair and make up done?  I'd also need a snack if I had to spend 11am-6:30pm until cocktail hour.

That seems like a really long time that your WP is going to be be all dolled up and literally just standing around- the majority of that time you are doing other things or taking pictures that don't even involve them.

I'd reschedule the pics and do the WP portraits prior to ceremony at 5:30pm, and the family portraits after, during cocktail hour.  That means you can reschedule the WP hair and make-up for later in the day as well too.

Skip WP introductions and save the 1st dances until after dinner when you are ready to open up the dance floor, and do the toasts during dinner.

dyerwise

PrettyGirlLost said:

dyerwise said:

Ok, 12 days out from our wedding. FREAKING OUT.

Our ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location. Cocktail hour is just steps away from ceremony area, and Reception area is just steps away from cocktail hour. No travel, no gap, yay!

This time line is what I have worked up taking from the suggested timelines from our Photographer, Venue coordinator, and DJ. FI and I have not fully decided on if we want to do our first dance right after the DJ announces us into the reception. I've seen this at weddings and think it always looks really smooth and helps move things along. I only worry that it might be weird because FI and I are doing the welcome toast. So would we enter the reception, have first dance, then give welcome toast? or would we hold off on the welcome toast until everyone has gone through the buffet line?

11:00a // Bridesmaids hair and makeup

12:30p // Bride hair

1:30p // Bride Makeup

3:00p // Shuttle to Venue

3:30p // Couple First Look & Portraits

4:00p // Wedding Party Portraits

4:00p // Venue access begins, Day of Coordinator arrives, Florist arrives for ceremony/reception set up

5:15p // Family portraits

5:30p // Ceremony detail & arrivals candid pictures

5:30p // Guests begin to arrive

6:00p // Ceremony begins 

6:30p // Ceremony ends

6:30p// Additional family photos (if needed)

6:30p // cocktail hour begins

7:15-30p // Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:40p // Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance?

7:45p // Buffet (table by table)

8:30p // Passed champagne for Toasts, Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

9:00p // First Dance(?)

9:05p // Parent Dances(should only be 5 minutes for both dances)

9:15p // Cake Cutting

9:20p // Dance floor opens
11p//Last Dance

Are you providing lunch for your WP members while they are having their hair and make up done?  I'd also need a snack if I had to spend 11am-6:30pm until cocktail hour.

That seems like a really long time that your WP is going to be be all dolled up and literally just standing around- the majority of that time you are doing other things or taking pictures that don't even involve them.

I'd reschedule the pics and do the WP portraits prior to ceremony at 5:30pm, and the family portraits after, during cocktail hour.  That means you can reschedule the WP hair and make-up for later in the day as well too.

Skip WP introductions and save the 1st dances until after dinner when you are ready to open up the dance floor, and do the toasts during dinner.

Yes, we are providing lunch and snacks for everyone!

The bridesmaids are all just sort of doing their own hair and make up with each others help so they told me they would start around 11am.

We want to try to get as many of the WP photos and family photos (most of our family besides parents are in the WP) done prior to the ceremony(4-5:45pm, there will be a lounge area and refreshments for everyone during this time as well) so that our WP and family can enjoy cocktail hour with everyone.

Is there a reason to skip WP introductions? I've never heard of this or seen this at other weddings and our WP all seem really excited for this part, they all picked out the song they want to play when they enter.

STARMOON44

1:15 for wedding party photos strikes me as a really long time, but I think it's fine

SP29

WP introductions are up to you. We did them.

We also did our first dance upon being introduced into the reception space. Then we ate dinner. We did our toasts in between courses, but that obviously won't work for you.

I think it would be fine if you two did your first dance, then walked up to the mic to do the welcome toast.

Personally, if you are going to cut the cake before opening the dance floor, I'd cut the cake after your toasts, but before your parent dances.

I agree that is a long time for your WP to hang around- hope they have somewhere to sit and something to eat. I don't think you'll need 4pm to 5:15 to do WP photos. You may want more time to do one-on-one photos and you and FH. 5:15-5:45 *should* be OK for family photos, but depends on how big your family is. The BIGGEST thing is to have a list of photos you'd like taken already set, arrange them in an orderly fashion (i.e. Bride + Brothers, Bride+ Groom + Brothers, etc) and have someone in charge of calling out the photos. Also know where you want your photos taken.

My dad just got remarried and their photos took a LONG time, but they have a very blended family, so there was a lot of mixing of people in the photos. The biggest time suck however was that the photographer (who was semi-professional) wasn't sure where to take photos or how to organize everyone, so there was a lot of jumping around and waiting around.

PrettyGirlLost

dyerwise said:

PrettyGirlLost said:

Are you providing lunch for your WP members while they are having their hair and make up done?  I'd also need a snack if I had to spend 11am-6:30pm until cocktail hour.

That seems like a really long time that your WP is going to be be all dolled up and literally just standing around- the majority of that time you are doing other things or taking pictures that don't even involve them.

I'd reschedule the pics and do the WP portraits prior to ceremony at 5:30pm, and the family portraits after, during cocktail hour.  That means you can reschedule the WP hair and make-up for later in the day as well too.

Skip WP introductions and save the 1st dances until after dinner when you are ready to open up the dance floor, and do the toasts during dinner.

Yes, we are providing lunch and snacks for everyone!

The bridesmaids are all just sort of doing their own hair and make up with each others help so they told me they would start around 11am.

We want to try to get as many of the WP photos and family photos (most of our family besides parents are in the WP) done prior to the ceremony(4-5:45pm, there will be a lounge area and refreshments for everyone during this time as well) so that our WP and family can enjoy cocktail hour with everyone.

Is there a reason to skip WP introductions? I've never heard of this or seen this at other weddings and our WP all seem really excited for this part, they all picked out the song they want to play when they enter.

So your BMs want to spend 7hrs prior to your ceremony hanging out just so they don't miss an hour of appetizers and drinks?

Whatever floats your boat, but that just wouldn't be for me.

2 hours is overkill for WP and family pics, though.  I bet you can cut that down to an hour, and then use time after the ceremony if you need to get any shots you missed. . . that's the entire point of having a cocktail hour.  Otherwise, your BMs are looking at a 10hr day before they get a chance to dance at your wedding!

I had over 20ppl in my WP, and it took us 30mins to take our pics prior to the wedding and another 30 to do the group portraits after the ceremony with WP and parents. . . and we still had time to stop and take more pics on the way to the venue and we made it back in time for the last 15mins of cocktail hour.

Like PPS said, if you have a list and good photographers, you can get all your photos done very quickly.

charlotte989875

I skipped WP introductions. They all just went into cocktail hour, ate, rank, mingled with guests. H and I walked in normally and the DJ announced when we were doing the cake cutting then to sit for dinner. My sister said she loved not having to have a big intro. 

MobKaz

What time is the florist arriving to deliver personal flowers and boutonniers?

dyerwise

MobKaz said:

What time is the florist arriving to deliver personal flowers and boutonniers?

Her contract says 4pm, but she says she always delivers to the venue by 3pm.

lyndausvi

i'm a huge fan of first dance right away.  Then the dance floor is open.   

30 minutes of toasts is torture.    The wedding over the weekend had no toasts.  It was awesome.  However, I get people like them.  30 minute is way too long.  

Passed champagne TOTAL waste of money.  This is coming from something who works weddings and throws away a shit ton of champagne from barely sipped glasses.  Just let them use their own drink, but have champagne available at the bar.   

I suggest:

7:15-7:30 have people sit.
7:30-8 -Introductions, First dance,invite everyone out to the dance floor to do a dance.  In my social group(and a lot of weddings at work) they invite all couples out to the floor.  Then do a few more faster songs.  Total time about 10-15 minutes.

If you do not want to invite people to the dance floor, fine, you can just jump right into the toasts. 15 min max on toasts.  People get bored other wise.

Open up the buffet. 

After dinner cut the cake.  Then do parent dances while people are  eating cake.  

After the parent dances let the party continue.


ETA - by doing thing in groups cuts out the start-stop-start again thing.    Also bands and DJ's cost a lot of money, opening up the dance floors as early as possible gives you more bang for your buck. I think it's kind of silly to sit for dinner at 7:30 and not dance until almost 2 hours later.

dyerwise

Sorry, I should have been more clear! I am not expecting toasts to run the full 30 minutes! More like 10-15 minutes MAX.

The passed champagne is included in our drink package.

Here if my second pass at our reception timeline:

6:30p - Cocktail hour

7:15-7:30p - Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:30-35p - Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance

7:45p – Buffet begins
passed champagne for toasts
after all tables through buffet line, toasts begin
(~8:10pm)Welcome toast & greeting by Bride & Groom
 Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

8:20- Cake Cutting

8:25-8:55p - Bride & Groom to visit tables(8 tables, 30 minutes seems doable)

8:55p - Parent Dances

9:00p - Dance floor opens

10:55p- Last Dance

SP29

Looks good- my only question is your table visits. It's after cake cutting but before dances. What are your guests going to be doing during this time? Are you assuming they'll take 30 mins to eat cake? I suppose that will work. Otherwise, I think you'll have guests up/down to the washroom and bar, wondering if they can dance yet.

How many guests do you have? How many "courses" as part of your buffet? You've only really given 35 mins between the buffet opening and cake cutting for your guests to get up, stand in line, get their food, sit down and eat, and go back for seconds. If you ask guests to be seated at 7:15, that shouldn't take more than 5-10 mins, so can you start the introductions and first dance then and then dinner right after? I think I would move your toasts and cake cutting back a bit to give 45mins-1hour for dinner, but do your table visits during this time as well. You could still do your parent dances at 8:55pm.

PrettyGirlLost

SP29 said:

Looks good- my only question is your table visits. It's after cake cutting but before dances. What are your guests going to be doing during this time? Are you assuming they'll take 30 mins to eat cake? I suppose that will work. Otherwise, I think you'll have guests up/down to the washroom and bar, wondering if they can dance yet.

How many guests do you have? How many "courses" as part of your buffet? You've only really given 35 mins between the buffet opening and cake cutting for your guests to get up, stand in line, get their food, sit down and eat, and go back for seconds. If you ask guests to be seated at 7:15, that shouldn't take more than 5-10 mins, so can you start the introductions and first dance then and then dinner right after? I think I would move your toasts and cake cutting back a bit to give 45mins-1hour for dinner, but do your table visits during this time as well. You could still do your parent dances at 8:55pm.

Yeah I was thinking this as well.

Give your guests an hour for dinner and do your table visits during that time.  Once diner is over, people are going to be moving about, even during dessert.

And I still think you could adjust your schedule prior to the wedding ceremony to cut down on the amount of time your WP needs to be around.

lyndausvi

A lot of people will not even eat cake.  Certainly will not be sitting around for 30 minutes waiting for your table visit. 

At least in my experience eating cake is NOT something where the entire table is there eating it at the same time.  Some will, others will be at the bar, dance floor, mingling, etc.

MobKaz

@dyerwise said,
"

11:00a // Bridesmaids hair and makeup

12:30p // Bride hair

1:30p // Bride Makeup

3:00p // Shuttle to Venue

3:30p // Couple First Look & Portraits

If your contract says the florist will deliver at 4:00, this could become an issue.  If your florist "says" she always comes closer to 3:00, why is that time not in the contract then instead of 4:00?

Why does your wedding party have to hang around during all this time?   You are only allowing 30 minutes for "First Look and Portraits", but 75 minutes for wedding party portraits?  This seems like a lot of time.  15 minutes for family portraits seems insufficient.

                               4:00p // Wedding Party Portraits

4:00p // Venue access begins, Day of Coordinator arrives, Florist arrives for ceremony/reception set up

5:15p // Family portraits

5:30p // Ceremony detail & arrivals candid pictures

5:30p // Guests begin to arrive

6:00p // Ceremony begins 

6:30p // Ceremony ends

6:30p// Additional family photos (if needed)

6:30p // cocktail hour begins

7:15-30p // Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:40p // Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance?

7:45p // Buffet (table by table)

8:30p // Passed champagne for Toasts, Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

9:00p // First Dance(?)

9:05p // Parent Dances(should only be 5 minutes for both dances)

9:15p // Cake Cutting

9:20p // Dance floor opens
11p//Last Dance

dyerwise

Ah. Sorry, I'm still not being clear enough!

The venue timeline is that guests will take from 7:15-7:30 to be seated. I think that means at 7:15 they will begin telling guests during happy to move inside to the barrel room and find their seat.

We have about 75 guests and the venue coordinator said that for 75 guests they can move all tables through the buffet line in 25-30 minutes.

I was thinking that if we did the toasts in 5-10 minutes and then less than 5 minutes for cake cutting, we'd still have time to make our way around for table visits while people were eating and then the cake would be out in time for parent dances? Maybe I'm thinking too long for people to eat?  I think if we were to cut the cake after we visit tables then it wouldn't be out in time for the parent dances. Or am I thinking about it wrong? should we not do anything besides table visits during the hour every is eating? Maybe we should cut the cake right after our first dance, before dinner is even served?

One of my peeves at weddings is when they cut the cake after dancing has begun or right before dancing begins and then you aren't at your table to ask for the flavor you want or you miss out on cake because of dancing...


@PrettyGirlLost thank you for the feedback on the WP timeline. Doing WP photos at 5:30, 30 minutes before the ceremony starts is not an option for us as this is when the photographer will be taking photos of reception/ceremony set up and candid photos of guests arriving(this was at her request). I also do not feel 30 minutes is enough time for the photos. Since a lot of family is going to show up early and/or is already in the WP  we can get a lot of the family photos done as well. My family is super messy and "blended" so family photos will probably eat up a lot of time. Also, FMIL has asked for some specific photos with family members that we'll need to take during cocktail hour without the WP. Our plan is still for us to begin arriving at the venue 3:30-4pm.

PrettyGirlLost

I still think that is a super long day for your WP. . .am I wrong in my impression, guys?  Maybe I'm off base!

But you're doing 2 hours of pre ceremony pictures, the majority of which your non family WP members aren't even involved in.  Even if you are providing food and drinks during that time, that's a long time to be sitting around doing nothing on top of the time already spent getting ready, and the time yet to be spent for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, etc.

lyndausvi

I had a 5:30 wedding.     Pictures started at 3:30pm.    

Most of the BMs got their hair/makeup done at a salon. Some started as early as 11am (and that was because the salon closed early (small town).  Afterwards they just went back to the rental house and hangout with their husbands and kids.  The 2 BMs who didn't go to the salon just showed up at 3:30pm.

3:30 - till 5 we did first look, family and WP shots. Along with just hang out and had a little champagne.  

at 5 or so DH and GMs went to the venue.  I was the next shuttle.  Got there about 10 minutes before the ceremony (in a tropical storm).

After the wedding we did a few more shots and still attended some of our cocktail hour.

lovegood90

PrettyGirlLost said:

I still think that is a super long day for your WP. . .am I wrong in my impression, guys?  Maybe I'm off base!

But you're doing 2 hours of pre ceremony pictures, the majority of which your non family WP members aren't even involved in.  Even if you are providing food and drinks during that time, that's a long time to be sitting around doing nothing on top of the time already spent getting ready, and the time yet to be spent for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, etc.

You're definitely not alone. I'm still confused as to why the WP needs to start getting ready at 11am. It's not necessary and sounds like an exhausting day.

You can time pre-ceremony pics so that you have a time slot for family, then one for WP so that they don't have to wait around for over 2 hours and get ready 7 (!!) hours before the ceremony starts. 

charlotte989875

I had a 4:30 ceremony and the photographer came at 2 to do pictures of the dress, shoes, rings, etc. while we were getting ready. We were still eating and drinking but she was there  I think everyone started getting in dresses around 2:30, and H and I did a first look before 3, then did all the WP pictures before the ceremony. 

Many hair started at 10 because I went to the salon instead of having them come to me, and did make up there after, so I get having to start early in order to be ready if you're traveling. My WP was free to do whatever they wanted, but most opted to get hair done professionally (at various salons) And meet up at the hotel for lunch. Some went back to their rooms, some just hung out with me all day, but many had to schedule appointments around what the salon had available. I tend to think this works better than having the stylist come to you. I get that's it's more convenient because no one has to travel, but it means people can schedule their appointments when they want, and not have to be ready super early. 

I get you cant change that now OP, but maybe just mention to your BM that even though hair is early for them you don't expect them to hang around the entire time, that they're free to go back to their rooms/hang with their SOs or whatever. 

dyerwise

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm just basing the photo times off what our photographer recommends. She is a professional who photographs over 45 weddings a year and I felt like her timeline must be based off experience. I'm going to email her my outlined timeline and bring up the concerns that 4pm may be too early to start WP and family photos and see what she thinks. She has shot weddings at our venue before so maybe she is allowing extra time(~10-15 mins total) for the "shuttle" (golf carts) into the vineyards for photos? I'm not sure.

Just to clarify, and I did mention this before, my BM's(3 sisters, 1 friend) aren't scheduled to get their hair done at 11 am. When we were all discussing the timeline for getting ready and I told them my scheduled times for hair and make up they all decided that they would start getting ready around 11 am. We are all sharing 2 large hotel suites the night before (this happened by domino effect; I told 1 sister that friend would be staying with me and then she wanted to stay, then she told another, etc.) and they all decided that since they are all helping do each others hair and make up they decided 11am was a good time to start. Knowing my sisters, 11 am is probably the time they mean they will wake up.

I've let all WP members know that whatever they decide to do that day, they just need to be dressed and ready for photos at the venue at 4pm, but since maybe that is too early, I'll see what my photographer recommends.

PrettyGirlLost

Your photographer will work around your schedule, though.

Of course she's going to suggest you do things the way she prefers, but if you have a reasonable rationale for how you'd prefer things done- like trying to spare your WP hours and hours of standing around for photos they aren't in- then she should be able to accommodate you.

And I know you guys want to be present for cocktail hour, but the whole point of having one is to utilize that time to take pictures.  So I'd move as many family pictures to that time as you can- in fact I'd try to do them all then, which would spare your WP from having to hang around during that time pre ceremony, and then they can go to cocktail hour.

SP29

dyerwise said:

We have about 75 guests and the venue coordinator said that for 75 guests they can move all tables through the buffet line in 25-30 minutes.

I was thinking that if we did the toasts in 5-10 minutes and then less than 5 minutes for cake cutting, we'd still have time to make our way around for table visits while people were eating and then the cake would be out in time for parent dances? Maybe I'm thinking too long for people to eat?  I think if we were to cut the cake after we visit tables then it wouldn't be out in time for the parent dances. Or am I thinking about it wrong? should we not do anything besides table visits during the hour every is eating? Maybe we should cut the cake right after our first dance, before dinner is even served?

I would still give your guests an hour for dinner. Maybe they can move through the buffet in 25-30mins, but they still need time to eat and socialize, get seconds if they'd like. Sure, I can scarf down a meal in 15 mins if I need to, but at a wedding your guests will be talking and drinking while eating, so expect them to take a bit longer.

You've given 35 mins for dinner and 30mins for cake- a piece of cake won't take near as long as a buffet line+ a meal . I'd give one hour for dinner and 15 mins for cake.

Often the B&G are served first, so you would be able to eat your meal and then do table visits during your hour of dinner time, still cut your cake when you want, and if you need to, finish up with a few table visits during cake. Your parent dances can still start on time as per your original timeline.

MandyMost

dyerwise said:

Ok, 12 days out from our wedding. FREAKING OUT.

Our ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location. Cocktail hour is just steps away from ceremony area, and Reception area is just steps away from cocktail hour. No travel, no gap, yay!

This time line is what I have worked up taking from the suggested timelines from our Photographer, Venue coordinator, and DJ. FI and I have not fully decided on if we want to do our first dance right after the DJ announces us into the reception. I've seen this at weddings and think it always looks really smooth and helps move things along. I only worry that it might be weird because FI and I are doing the welcome toast. So would we enter the reception, have first dance, then give welcome toast? or would we hold off on the welcome toast until everyone has gone through the buffet line?

11:00a // Bridesmaids hair and makeup

12:30p // Bride hair

1:30p // Bride Makeup

3:00p // Shuttle to Venue

3:30p // Couple First Look & Portraits

4:00p // Wedding Party Portraits

4:00p // Venue access begins, Day of Coordinator arrives, Florist arrives for ceremony/reception set up

5:15p // Family portraits

5:30p // Ceremony detail & arrivals candid pictures

5:30p // Guests begin to arrive

6:00p // Ceremony begins 

6:30p // Ceremony ends

6:30p// Additional family photos (if needed)

6:30p // cocktail hour begins

7:15-30p // Guests begin to be seated for dinner

7:40p // Introduction of Wedding Party and Bride & Groom
First dance?

7:45p // Buffet (table by table)

8:30p // Passed champagne for Toasts, Best Man/Maid of Honor Toasts

9:00p // First Dance(?)

9:05p // Parent Dances(should only be 5 minutes for both dances)

9:15p // Cake Cutting

9:20p // Dance floor opens
11p//Last Dance

I think you should just start looking at it from some other perspectives. What do you expect the wedding party to do between arriving at the venue on the shuttle at 3:30pm, and the ceremony beginning at 6pm. That 2.5 hours to sit and try not to crumple. Pics with the wedding party probably take 20 minutes max. I'd start working backwards a bit--you have yourself all done half an hour before the ceremony starts. That's great, you can use that time to relax and practice your vows or whatever. But are you really going to want to do 2 full hours of pics before that? That seems like a lot. It seems like a lot to be in your dress for a full 3.5 hours prior to the ceremony even starting. 

You have 10 minutes (from 7:30 until 7:40) between guests being seated and intros happening. Why? And what about the guests that acutally sit at 7:15 as instructed? They'll be sitting for nearly half an hour with no food or anything waiting for something to happen. That won't be enjoyable for the guests. If you must do intros, move them up to 7:30. And please please please keep the full intro thing to a max of around 5 minutes. No one really enjoys watching this like a captive audience. Your current timeline has people essentially sitting at their seats from 7:15 until maybe 8:15 until they can get into the buffet line if they sit right away and are the last table called. No one wants to sit for an hour before they can eat. You need to streamline this a bit.

It looks like you're doing toasts while everyone is eating. That's fine, but people might be done eating by 8:30! You don't want to have to wrangle people back to their seats for the toasts. I'd aim to do the toasts as soon as everyone has made it through the buffet line. A toast should be 2 minutes max.

There's a long time between dinner starting and dancing starting. What if someone is early thgouht the buffet line, and essentially done eating around 8-8:15. Is everyone expected to just sit at their tables for over an hour and a half? That's a long time to remain seated especially for a buffet meal. 

huskypuppy14

Wedding party getting ready super early is pretty normal in my experience. My wedding started at 5:30 and the first person to get their hair done was 9 am. It seemed early to me but my hairdresser recommended this. Also I think it depends on who makes up your wedding party . There was a lot of down time before my ceremony. My sisters and my best friend were my bridesmaids so we just hung out together in our bridal suite had lunch until w e got dressed. My MIL and my mom also got their hair and makeup done and then went and hung out with family until pictures. I had a first look at 3:15 and then family pics around 4 and we were done quickly.  Everything including lodging was all in the same place so people could go back to their hotel room if they wanted though if they weren't doing anything. 

Only my husband and I did pictures during cocktail hour since we did everything else beforehand. 

I would do do your first dance right after intros. Do you have a salad course? It is everything all together in the buffet? We had stations and the salads were already premade ( 2 choices)so people just took one and sat down and then we did toasts. We cut out cake after the toasts because that is how our venue does things. Then people went to the stations. We did table visits as people were eating. 

I agree with pp that there is a lot of time between dinner and dancing. You'll be busy but there is a big lull for your guests. I really hate that at weddings. Definitely try to tighten up your timeline. You also don't have to schedule everything now. I went up to the DJ and said we want to do the parent dances in 5 minutes. 

 People were free to dance whenever but most people don't during dinner. Some people don't like it but we did the parent dances after people had already been dancing. And it was a quick 2 minute song that we did together. My dad and I and my husband and MIL danced at the same time. Yeah it's stops the momentum a little but it also gives people a break.